1953 Henry J Hot rat rod chopped top 

End time: May-14-06

Item location: Holmen, Wisconsin

  
Description    

This is a 1953 Kaiser Henry J with out a trunk. The car does have a clear Iowa title. I have not registered the car since I bought it as it hasn’t been driveable. The car has been chopped three inches, and the roof has been flattened a little bit to remove some of the dome. The chop is performed with all butt welds as to eliminate future rust problems. The drip rails have also been shaved, and I started to make it a tilt front end. I have had this car for several years and haven’t done anything with it. I just recently pulled the car into the shop to finish the metal fabrication for the chop as to make it more sellable. I did not finish the doors as I would make it a hard top but that is up to you. The way I chopped the car I cut the roof front to back as to lay down the rear windshield as that is one of the Henry J characteristics and the glass is tempered therefore it cannot be cut. I do have the glass to put back into the car, It is a very rare piece of glass to find. The most difficult part of the chop is complete, and as you can see in the background I have chopped cars before. I just have too many irons in the fire to complete this car and my wife would like me to work on hers. As you can see from the photos the car does have its share of rust, but it is still worth fixing. It would make an excellent tube chassis car where you would install all new floors any way. Or put it on a 2wheel drive S-10 blazer chassis and utilize that floor pan. Or a person could install a new floor pan in this body. Personally I would build a tube chassis car and mix a little old school gasser with a high tech street rod.

This car needs floor pan and rocker panel work. As well as all of the welds need to be finished for the chop. As I mentioned the fabrication is finished. But there is still a lot of welding to do. I do still have the original fold flat rear seat to go with the car. As well as some of the other original glass. I do also have a CORE 350 small block Chevy engine and a 3 speed automatic that can go with the car for an additional $ if interested. The car does roll very easy it has spoked wheels from a Lincoln on it now but the front tires do lose air. The car has no engine, transmission or brakes. It is not able to move under its own power.